


Cute Eyes

by Peregrine



Series: Broken Glass and Porcelain [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Mentions of alcohol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 04:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10734318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peregrine/pseuds/Peregrine
Summary: “Sorry, Light. You punched a wall. This is going to hurt.”





	Cute Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> I started listening to some Final Fantasy XIII music the other day and then I got all nostalgic for these two. Eight goddamn years later and I thought I was over this ship. But nope. All that hate and I still ship it.
> 
> Anyway, this fic diverges from canon after the first game because I still haven't played the second two games.

"Lighting, what did you do to yourself," Hope asked, examining her broken hand. Her knuckles were bleeding and covered in splinters.

“Punched a wall,” Lightning grunted. She sat with Hope at her kitchen counter as he examined her hand. 

“Lightning, your hand has a splinter the size of needle here.” Lightning winced as he pulled it out with a pair of tweezers. 

“Ugh...careful.”

“Sorry, Light. You punched a wall. This is going to hurt.”

“Yeah. I get that.” 

“It's hard to see with all this blood. Wait here.” She watched as Hope went to the other side of the kitchen and turned on the sink. When he came back, he was carrying a wet towel. “I hope you don't mind me using this towel,” he said, pressing the wet cloth to the back of her hand. She hissed. Then he slid his hand under hers and began to dab at the blood. Despite the pain, he was surprisingly gentle with her hand and Lightning felt a little prick of something in her chest region.

“I'm going to pull the rest of these splinters, okay? Tell me if you need like...a break or something.”

“I'm okay, Hope. Get it over with.”

Hope nodded, giving her an earnest look. Lightning studies his face as he worked. Even at 19, he had a delicate, boyish look to his features.

“Uh...Lightning?” Hope asked after a few minutes of concentrated silence. “May I ask why you punched a wall?”

Lightning's face went a bit red. “Pain,” she murmured, hoping that would satisfy his curiosity.

“Pain?” Hope said, the color leaving his face a little. “You were hurting before this happened?”

“Yeah,” Lightning grunted, looking away from him.

“Where?” Hope looked very concerned now. “Is there something wrong? You didn't hurt yourself working out, did you? You're always pushing yourself so hard, Light. You need to take it easy with-”

“No, it's not that,” Lightning interrupted, her face going a shade darker. “It's...” she hesitated for a moment before she spoke. “...period cramps.”

“Oh,” Hope said and it was his turn to go red in the face. It was about the reaction she'd expected. Guys always got awkward when it came to this subject and Hope was definitely no exception.

“You know, I can give you something for that,” Hope said, breaking the awkward silence.

“I already take painkillers.”

“Yeah but I can give you something really strong.”

“Alcohol?” Lightning ventured. 

Hope laughed at that. “No. But I have some pretty strong pain killers. Though I wouldn't object to a little wine.”

“Okay, Hope. But first you've gotta fixed my hand.”

“Deal,” Hope said.

“And 1 glass. I'm not going to deal with your drunk ass throwing up all over my furniture.”

“In my defense, that only happened once!”

“Once is still one too many.” 

“That wasn't my fault! I was my first time! And I didn't realize I was such a light weight.”

“As an adult, i'm going to make sure you drink responsibly like an adult.” Despite the seriousness of her words, Light felt a smile tug at her lips.

“I'm an adult too,” Hope whined, giving her one of his puppy dog looks.

Lightning snorted. “Barely.”

“Lightning, you were about my age when we met!”

“Yeah well...I had to grow up fast.”

“So did I,” Hope said, giving her one of his sterner looks.

“It's kind of hard to see you as an adult when you pull that cute act on me.”

“What cute act?” Hope asked, blinking.

“You know. Where you look at me. And make your eyes all cute.”

Hope let out another laugh, taking her hand into his again. “You think my eyes are cute?”

Lightning rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Hope. When you give me that look, they are.”

“Well I think your eyes are cute too, Light.”

Much to her own chagrin, Lightning flushed red. “Are you going to fix my hand?” she asked, trying to cover up her own reaction.

“Oh yeah. Sorry.”

As he went back to pulling the splinters, Lightning considered having a glass of wine herself.


End file.
